Just Keep Breathing
by It'sTimeToDance
Summary: Robin was never freed from Slade. The Titans finally discover their leader was never a traitor. It's too late for apologies. Charactor Death.


**_So make me this promise, yeah?  
Say it with an object tone  
Emotion feeling, can't stop spinning  
Just keep breathing, say you need me  
-Just Keep Breathing, Automatic Loveletter_**

_"With a push of a button, my probes will attack..."_

_"...my probes will stay undetected for years..."_

_"Who knows? I may even become like a father to you"_

The years pass, with slow, unprecedented pain. Each day, he was greeted with the same drawl, a mocking tone only reminding him of what he had been fighting against, and what he was fighting for.

_In_

_Out_

He fought for her, her innocent emerald eyes that stared back at him with a naive trust, a trust he didn't deserve. Her eyes that shone with life. A life that he fought to keep.

_In_

_Out_

The same eyes that kept him alive, he soon realized, would be the same thing that crushed him. The times when they gleamed with betrayal, almost hatred. A cold, bitter stare that he thought he'd never be on the wrong end of. The type that chilled him, making his heart freeze over until it cracked.

_In_

_Out_

So many fallen, paving way for a new path. His path. Once a path of good and protecting the innocent, now a path of crime and bloodshed. Of suffering.

_In_

_Out_

Movement, he had learned, had become a drug to him. Something that kept his thoughts on each breath, instead of the sickness that he'd grown accustomed to. Kept his blood running, making him numb to the constant pain. When he ran, he didn't have to think about all he had hurt, all he had done, all he had become. He was a machine. Get in and get out. For a person, it proved difficult. Each blow came with pain, each memory came guilt. For a machine, it was simply an order. Whoever got in the way would be eliminated. Though, sometimes, it proved impossible.

_In_

_Out_

He had tried to protect them. He would avoid them, run from them. If he had to, he'd fight. He'd leave them with a scratch or two, reletivley minimal damage compared to what could have been done. He could do it. He could bear the reprocussions. As long as they were safe.

_In _

_Out_

His pain. His pain was tolerable. Bearable. Almost needed. He was used to his pain, if not from his missions, then from his master. He was used to it. Thier pain...that was so much worse. It made everything the worse, made everyday more and more bleak to think that he caused them pain. At first, it was obvious. Worried. Concerned. The tones they used when they questioned him, trying to talk him down, to understand. Those had faded, turning into the cold, bitter commands they had been using for years, the ones they used on enemies. _Their _enemies. That's what he was now. Their enemy.

_In_

_Out_

His feet padded down the cold, broken strets of Jump City, blood running down his cheek, his tonr mask flapping against his skin. They were chasing him, saying something. He didn't listen. He couldn't stop to listen. If he stopped, he'd have to fight. The more he fought, the more they suffered.

_In_

_Out_

_"Robin!" _Slade hissed, the static from the earpiece ringing through his head, _"Get back here now."_

_In_

_Out_

Police sirens blared through the air. He tried to drone it out, focus on the sound of his heart beating. Of his ragged, uneven breathing.

_In_

_Out_

"Robin!" She called. No longer the scornful tone. A tone he'd thought he'd never hear again.

_In_

_Out_

"Robin, stop!"

_In _

_Out_

"They can't help you now," Slade drawled through the earpiece, "no one can."

And he knew he was right.

_In_

_Out_

"Robin, please!"

He stopped, inches from a glowering brick wall. He heard the cars getting closer.

_In _

_Out_

"Please!" she begged. Through the red haze, he saw her eyes. Green, penetrating. No longer cold. No long uncaring. Worried. Concerned. Pleading.

_In_

_Out_

"We know about the nano-bots!" Cybrog called. Robin felt his knees begin to shake, "Everything's okay!"

_In_

_Out_

"We will not harm you! Your safe now!" She begged.

Robin slacked against the wall, shaking his head weakly. No, was all he thought. No one was safe. Not while he was around.

_In_

_Out_

The red and blue flashes and the screeching halt of police cars could be heard through his daze. Officers poured out, guns outstretched. Doing their jobs.

_In _

_Out_

"Get back" he warned his former team mates, so quietly he wasn't even sure he heard him. He unlatched his gun. There were no more bullets in it. There wouldn't have to be.

_In _

_Out_

"Robin, we're sorry!" called Raven, her hood down, revealing thin tracks of tears, "We're sorry we didn't trust you!"

No, he thought, you shouldn't. He was a monster, no better then the criminals he protected the city against. He was one of them, now. And, like he had been instilled in an instilled upon, criminals deserved justice.

_In_

_Out_

He held up the gun.

_In _

_Out_

Two shots rang out.

_In_

_Out_

He fell to the ground

_In _

_Out_

"No!"

_In_

_Out_

He hit the cold ground, his cheek splashing in a mucky puddle.

_In_

_Out_

"Robin, no..." her voice begged, her warm hands lifting his face from the ground.

_In_

_Out_

He gripped her wrist in an attempt at reassurence. He peeled his eyes open. He needed to look. He needed one last look.

_In_

_Out_

They looked down at him, the rest fading until it was only her, her beautfiul eyes glistening with tears. "I'm sorry." she sobbed. He shook his head.

_In_

_Out_

"Someone help!" Cyborg's booming voice called, though Robin knew it was pointless. They couldn't help. None of them could.

_In_

_Out_

"Robin, please." she pleaded hoplessly, "I'm sorry..."

_In_

_Out_

The bots were gone. Slade had nothing on him.

_In_

_Out_

They were safe.

_In_

_Out_

"It's okay," he croaked. The cold crept up on him. Tears streamed from her face, shaking her head, her eyes begging with his,

_In_

"...it's safe..."

_Out_

**A/N Hm...not sure where this one came from...don't make fun of me...I'm feeling morbid. Not sure about the ending...**


End file.
